WEEK 2: La Guitarra Espanola! 🐂

Beautiful Nora!!! Y suena más ligado que el viernes!!!! Bravo!!!! 

Just yo let you all know guys that I am still here in the challenge with my Cadiz! This week I am trying to play it more legato. Especially difficult to play legado in the progression of chords. Also some bars with jumps and crescendo where I need to keep practicing slow, as they are still not consistent. I tried to record a video , slow video, and failed …so more practice is needed. I do really really hope to make a recording this week 

Garcia Lorca _ 2 songs

Something totally different for the last moments of week 2.

Disclaimer, this is not a political statement. These songs represent for me the enduring spirt of music and arts even if all the odds are against. Both songs are about love and joy of life.

Federico Garcia Lorca, (1898-1936) outstanding poet and playwright of 20th century Spain. And, sadly, a famous victim of the Guerra Civil (late 30s). He died in imprisonment, under unknown circumstances.

Born and raised in Granada, he grew up with music and was inspired by the popular traditions of his native region, Andalusia. A pianist and singer, he also played guitar, composed and arranged some folk songs, wrote lyrics. It’s a minor part of his legacy. He joined the group around Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel, was inspired by Manuel de Falla and other contemporaries. One could say that his skills as a guitarist composer didn’t match his literary talents. But these songs have such an unsophisticated folkish character…

Moreover,  they tell the wider story of en epoch. Many young men from all over Europe came to join the republican forces. After Franco’s nationalists prevailed, they returned home, and many brought back with them, besides a guitar, their enthusiasm for Spanish music, which they then shared with a new and growing generation of guitarists.

There are traditional songs that he arranged. Beautiful Joosje 

Sor – Andante Op 44 No 11

For this one, I simply started flipping through my book of Sor studies (ed. Grimes) looking for something I hadn’t played before, but looked interesting and not too difficult to play. This Andante in E minor fits the bill.

I find it interesting how the B section begins in the relative major key, but very quickly (after just two measures) goes back to E minor. It’s like you’re eating a dish of ice cream, then you take a little taste of another flavor from someone else nearby, but then you go right back to what’s in your dish. 🍦🍨